A survey questionnaire, following recommendations made by Jenkins and Dillman (1997) and approved by the Institutional Review Board in College Station, was designed to describe demographics of charter anglers in Galveston, Texas and to assess their environmental awareness. The anglers were described by age, gender, place of residence, and species preference to reflect past studies and provide consistency of data. Economic impacts on the local economy were estimated using the number of anglers that spent at least one night in a Galveston hotel, charter fees, and a daily average for food/beverage expenditures made during their stay. Environmental awareness was established by asking whether anglers noticed the presence of marine debris, whether they were aware of the existence of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS), and whether marine sanctuaries were a valuable management tool. The questionnaire was administered to anglers that fished from the charter boat Freedom during its fifty-four charter trips in the months of June through August 2007. The response rate to the survey was 93.8% (N=213 respondents). The majority (81.7%) of those surveyed was male, 86.8% were between 20-60 years old, and 86% resided in Texas. The sub-population of charter anglers was defined as infrequent (68.5 %), without species preference (70.8 %), did not own their own boat (75%) and did not belong to a fishing, hunting, or conservation organization (79.8%). The economic impact was approximately $400 per person per day. This first step in assessing environmental awareness resulted in these findings: approximately 14% of the anglers noticed dead fish; 7% noticed dead birds; and 54.5% noticed man-made trash during their charter. Thirty-eight anglers (17.8%) responded that they were familiar with the FGBNMS; yet in general, nearly 81% indicated a perceived value in sanctuaries as a management tool. Future studies are needed to fully assess environmental awareness of anglers and their knowledge of other management programs. This is particularly important with the expansion of programs such as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s artificial reef program.

The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the relationship between teachers‟ beliefs and cultural awareness of students of color, and teacher ethnicity, level of teaching certification, years of teaching experience and gender. During the 2005-2006 academic school year, data was collected from teachers teaching in a large urban school district, located in the southeastern portion of Texas, to examine teacher‟s working with diverse populations of students in diverse communities. The Cultural Awareness and Belief Inventory (CABI) was used to collect this data. The CABI measures teachers‟ beliefs and cultural awareness when working with African American students in comparison to their counterparts of other ethnicities. This study examined the data collected from teachers teaching students in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. The data collected in this study was examined based on four descriptive characteristics, teacher ethnicity, teacher gender, level of teaching certification (elementary or secondary), and years of teaching experience. Data collected from African American teachers and European American teachers were examined for statistically significant differences. The results indicate that there is a statically significant difference in the beliefs and cultural awareness of African American and European American teacher‟s teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. There was not a statistically significant difference in the beliefs and cultural awareness of teachers teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade in relationship to teacher gender, level of teaching certification (elementary or secondary), or years of teaching experience.

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity and reliability of the Cultural Awareness and Beliefs Inventory (CABI). The CABI consist of forty-six items that measures urban teachers’ cultural awareness and beliefs on a Likert-type four-point scale. In addition, this study also examined the extent the CABI determined statistically significant differences by demographic characteristics, such as teachers’ ethnicity or years of teaching experience. During the 2005–2006 academic year, data for this study was collected from the Cultural Awareness and Beliefs Inventory (CABI). Approximately 1873 Prekindergarten through Grade 12 teachers, employed by an urban public school district located in southeastern Texas, completed the survey. Construct validity was determined by internal consistency, content validity, convergent and divergent validity. To investigate the internal structure, an exploratory factor analysis, EFA, yielded an eight-factor, 36-item inventory. The eight factors, Factor I: Teachers’ Beliefs, Factor II: School Climate, Factor III: Culturally Responsive Classroom Management, Factor IV: Home Community School, Factor V: Cultural Awareness, Factor VI: Curriculum and Instruction, Factor VII: Cultural Sensitivity, and Factor VIII: Teacher Efficacy were examined by a jury of experts to establish the content validity of the eight-factor, 36-item inventory. Convergent and divergent validity was established for six of the eight constructs by conducting a Pearson product moment correlation. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was conducted to measure the internal consistency reliability of the 36-item CABI. The reliability was established at .83. Further, the alpha for the eight factors, or scales, ranged from 46 percent for TE to 88 percent for CRCM. Differences in the teachers’ perceptions by teachers’ ethnicity were determined for TB, CRCM, CS and TE. Follow-up Scheffe post hoc analyses indicated that African American teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of TB, CRCM, and CS. Hispanic American teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of TE. Differences in the teachers’ perceptions by years of experience were determined for CRCM and HCS. Follow-up Scheffe post hoc analyses indicated that teachers with more years of experience had significantly more positive perceptions of CRCM than first year teachers. First year teachers had significantly more positive perceptions of HCS.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Simons, Anna. Second Reader: Tucker, David. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on February 01, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Sociocultural log, sociocultural report, ethnographic intelligence, ethnographic sensor, sensor teams, cultural intelligence, sociocultural understanding, sociocultural conceptual framework, DoDD 3000.5 (SSTR). Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-68). Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Gregory M. Corso. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 148-153).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed February 25, 2010). PDF text: 225 p. ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3386555. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

The purpose of this study was to explore reading instruction within the two consecutive classrooms of one teacher oriented towards culturally relevant teaching. This study used qualitative methods and sought to document the nature of the classroom interactions and texts within these upper elementary classrooms. Data sources included participant observation, videorecording, interviews and archival data. Constantcomparative analysis as described by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and discourse analysis, informed by Erickson (2004) and Goffman (1981/2001) were used to investigate how this teacher navigated teaching and learning in this situated context. Study findings suggest that the teacher modified curricular structures, revoiced the words of cultural insiders, and maximized use of strategic instruction within classroom discussions to navigate multiple, competing goals. / text

Cardiovascular disease causes 30% of deaths globally. By comparison, infectious disease accounts for 10% of global mortality. As these statistics indicate, cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the world. In South Africa, through urbanisation and changes in lifestyle and dietary habits, the prevalence of risk factors and, by extension, the resulting morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease in black people, are expected to increase. Owing to the natural progression of the disease, the first ‘westernised illness’ is hypertension, which is very prevalent among the black population. Knowledge and awareness of risk factors are essential components of behaviour change; however, little is known about the knowledge and awareness of cardiovascular disease among the working-age people in the Ga-Rankuwa community. The purpose of the study was therefore to determine the knowledge and awareness of the identified risk factors among the working-age people (18-40 years old) in the Ga-Rankuwa community. The design was a quantitative survey. The study sample (n=604) was selected from zones 1, 2, 4 and 16 of Ga-Rankuwa to determine the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Only people with an identified risk factor were included in the knowledge and awareness survey (n=551). Data was gathered from July to October 2005. The data gathering was self-reported with a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and statistical analysis. The results obtained from the knowledge and awareness survey indicate that knowledge and awareness of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease are low in the Ga-Rankuwa community.

This study examines the effects of morphological awareness and reading ability on the accuracy and speed of reading multi-morphemic words. Test of word reading ability and morphological awareness were given to 134 Grade 5 students. They also completed a test of their ability to read morphologically complex words, in which accuracy and response times were recorded. Two sets of response time scores were calculated – the first taking into account only the accurately pronounced words, and the second taking into account both the accurately and the inaccurately pronounced words. These words varied in surface frequency, base frequency, and transparency. Analysis of variances indicated that multi-morphemic word reading accuracy and speed were positively related to reading ability, morphological awareness, surface and base frequencies, and transparency. Significant interactions showed that (a) high base frequency increased reading accuracy and speed for words with low surface frequency, particularly for the less able students, and (b) the combination of high base frequency and transparency increased reading accuracy and speed for words with low surface frequency. Findings were similar for accuracy and both sets of response time scores. These results imply that morphological knowledge is involved in the reading of multi-morphemic words, suggesting that investigation of instruction that targets the morphological characteristics of words is warranted. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-19 18:50:46.661